sam abellhttp://www.readthehook.com/taxonomy/term/2340/all
enWhere the wild things are: Abell shoots the Amazonhttp://www.readthehook.com/67345/where-wild-things-are-abell-shoots-amazon
<!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><!&#8211; This will not be inserted &#8211;><div class="captionLeft140"><a href="http://www.readthehook.com/art/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/022amazon-portfolio-abell23.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-34365" title="Sam Abell, &quot;Sloth Crossing Playa.&quot;" src="http://www.readthehook.com/art/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/022amazon-portfolio-abell23-140x95.jpg" alt="Sam Abell, &quot;Sloth Crossing Playa.&quot;" width="140" height="95" /></a><br />
<strong>Sam Abell, "Sloth Crossing Playa."</strong><small></small></div>
<p>The opening of "Sam Abell: Amazonia" at Les Yeux du Monde last Friday recalled those "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensurround">Sensurround</a>" movies of the 1970s. Just as <em>Earthquake</em> gave its audience a you-are-there experience via rumbling seats, the gallery had a distinctly jungle-like feel as throngs of Abell fans crowded into the small space on a sultry evening. Sweat trickled down the backs of my legs; only biting bugs and birdcalls were missing.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">But the sensation was appropriate since Abell strives to create an intimate encounter between viewers and the tropical wildlife showcased in the exhibition. The 33 large color images result from the <em>National Geographic</em> photographer's several trips into the Amazon's headwaters, often accompanied by Danish photographer Torben Ulrick Nissen, to capture the unique ecosystem threatened by encroaching industrialization and environmental hazards. Instead of using scare tactics, Abell presents photos that compel a relationship with the beauty of the Amazonian landscape and animals.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">He achieves this personal involvement by foregoing long-range lenses and remote-controlled cameras in favor of getting up close with his subjects, which include anacondas, monkeys, and brilliant butterflies. His point of view becomes our point of view. Fortunately, Abell is a skilled observer, taking note of color and spatial relationships most of us would otherwise miss. In many cases, he frames the scene and patiently waits for us to notice what's happening.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">For example, "Praying Mantis" appears to be an almost abstract composition of green grasses crossing the frame diagonally against a rich blue background. A closer look, however, reveals one of the central blades is not like the others; it is a praying mantis clinging upside down to a shoot of the same color. Similarly, a scaly head with a gleaming eye goes almost undetected beneath a carpet of fallen leaves in "Hidden Anaconda."<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">Other images are more obvious in their spectacle, such as Abell's "Sloth Crossing Playa," in which a mottled-gray, primate-like animal, baby beneath her belly, crawls across a sandy expanse toward a coppery stretch of river, while in the background the jungle canopy looms against the sky. Highlighting the exotic energy of the Amazon, Abell even makes a visual pun on his iconic <em>Stay this Moment </em>photograph of a canoe's prow in calm blue waters by creating a nearly identical composition, "Guide at Dusk," with an olive-green blur of river rushing by.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace">With Abell as our guide, "Amazonia" is an immersion experience that leaves viewers wide-eyed with wonder.<br />
</p><p class="whitespace"><em>The exhibition "Sam Abell:Amazonia" is on view through July 18 and then again August 4-31 at Les Yeux du Monde. 841 Wolf Trap Road. 973-5566.</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/67345/where-wild-things-are-abell-shoots-amazon#comments_ArtArtArt ReviewLes Yeux du Mondephotographysam abellMon, 14 Jun 2010 14:02:20 +0000LParsons67345 at http://www.readthehook.comStillnesshttp://www.readthehook.com/99340/stillness
<p>In the early ‘70s, when photographer Sam Abell went to visit Canadian artist Christopher Pratt, Abell was, by his own admission, at a low point in his career. Spending time with Pratt in his studio, Abell found not only a subject, but also a creative model, one that left a lasting impression on his work.<br />Of his time there, Abell writes: “I was struck by how he and his studio were like his work&#8211; spare but intensely alive.”<br />The same could easily be said about Abell’s own photography, which seeks out and finds the prodigious beauty in stillness, both expansive and diminutive. Abell’s subject matter&#8211; broad skies, shining rivers, dark, desolate landscapes, and, sometimes, tiny details&#8211; appears with such deep character, that it’s easy to overlook just how completely motionless his photos can be&#8211; like the surface of a pond on a windless day. That graceful motionlessness is the source of his images’ power. Abell’s photography is the vision of an indifferent world at rest.<br />Abell, a National Geographic photographer, has lived for 25 years in Albemarle County, and so having a large exhibit of his work at the University of Virginia Art Museum only makes sense. A fair portion of the exhibit, “The Photographic Life,” is given over to the type of work he’s been contributing to National Geographic over the years.&nbsp; <br />In “The Couple,” a man and woman stand over a carcass in the back of a truck, parked in a dark, windswept place.&nbsp; Behind them, blurry, low-hanging clouds lie against the sky like motion-lines.&nbsp; <br />“Bogged Truck” finds four men, tiny like pebbles, standing around a truck that has sunk up to its belly in mud.&nbsp; The men and the truck are absolutely dwarfed by an expanse of sparkling water, which stretches out from the truck in all directions.<br />As the title suggests, Abell’s exhibit also includes a strong biographical element. Along with photographs from Australia and the American west are portraits Abell has taken of himself with his amateur photographer father, Christmas cards with photos of Abell as a child, and letters written to him by his father and from his first editor at National Geographic, coming just after his college days. It’s a beautiful gesture, and one that gives a rounded account of the photographer who has produced all these graceful images.<br /><br /><br /><em>Sam Abell’s “The Photographic Life” runs through September 15 at the University of Virginia Art Museum. Rugby Road. 924-3592.</em></p>
http://www.readthehook.com/99340/stillness#commentssam abellCultural previewMon, 18 Jul 2011 18:56:16 +0000Aaron Steinberg99340 at http://www.readthehook.com